Understanding Value – Collecting Locally / Giving Meaning Globally
Building a collection is a personal quest, often one in Southeast Asia that can be of particular struggle to find validating information (eg. critical writing, reviews, opinions) that argues the worth and meaning of an artistic practice. What strategies and struggles do curators, dealers, institutional directors and collectors have in ensuring their artistic communities are supported locally with global engagement and relevance?
Speakers
X Zhu-Nowell – Artistic Director, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Le Thuan Uyen – Artistic Director of The Outpost Art Organisation, Hanoi
Dr Roger Nelson – Co-founder, Co-editor of Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia
Moderated by:
Zoe Butt – Director/Founder, in-tangible institute, Chiang Mai
X Zhu-Nowell – Artistic Director, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
X Zhu-Nowell is a curator, writer, and institutional leader with an international presence, operating primarily between Shanghai and New York. They have been the Artistic Director at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai since February 2023. Their innovative curatorial approach is exemplified in the museum’s 2023 program, which is centered around solo exhibitions and new commissions from six artists from Asia and its diaspora, including WangShui, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Tosh Basco, Diane Severin Nguyen, Shubigi Rao, and Tan Jing.
Previously, X Zhu-Nowell spent nearly a decade (2014-2022) as a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. There, they played a pivotal role in leading acquisitions, spearheading groundbreaking exhibitions, driving research initiatives, and shaping institutional growth. A highlight of their tenure was the establishment of the Asian Art Circle, an influential acquisition group at the Guggenheim focused on amplifying the museum’s collection and programming with works by both emerging and established Asian artists and those from the diaspora. They also earned critical acclaim for the rotunda exhibition “Wu Tsang: Anthem,” celebrated as the best exhibition of 2021 by both The New York Times and Artforum. In a notable endeavor in December 2022, they co-organized the 6th Asian Art Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, collaborating with artist Kandis Williams to explore themes of dispossession and hybridity within curatorial practices and the white cube.
Le Thuan Uyen – Artistic Director of The Outpost Art Organisation, Hanoi
Le Thuan Uyen is a curator based in Hanoi. She is currently the Artistic Director of The Outpost – a private organisation committed to the collection, presentation, and discussion of contemporary art in Vietnam. Informed by her former training in political science, Uyen is interested in alternative histories, personal narratives that are rendered absent, sidelined or undesirable by the official record. Her practice is also concerned with the investigations of forms and ideas within the social context and aesthetic traditions of Vietnam. She often works with artists in close collaboration, seeking to unpack artistic articulations and stimulate critical, creative enquiries.
Some of her past curatorial projects include: Fractured Times (The Outpost, Hanoi, 2022); And they die another death (Nguyen Trinh Thi for Documenta fifteen, 2022); Domestic Bliss (Ilham Gallery, KL, 2019); Gang of Five Chancing Modern (Hanoi, 2017); Sindikat Campursari (Jakarta, 2016); Embedded South(s) (co-curator, Sàn Art, online, 2016); Skylines With Flying People 3 (co-curator, Hanoi, 2015-17); Miền Méo Miệng (assistant curator, Bildmuseet Umea, 2015);… She was a resident curator at Art in General (NYC) from April–August 2017 through a fellowship with the Asian Cultural Council. Over time, Uyên has worked with numerous artists and orgranisations, providing administrative and programming support for spaces including Nhà Sàn Collective, Sàn Art, The Factory Centre for Contemporary Art, APD (Centre for Art Patronage and Development), The Nguyen Art Foundation.
Dr Roger Nelson – Co-founder, Co-editor of Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia
Roger Nelson is an art historian and curator, and Assistant Professor of Art History in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He researches modern and contemporary art in Southeast Asia, focused on questions of historiography and method, including as they relate to gender, translation, trans-media intersections, and under-studied artists. Roger was previously a curator at National Gallery Singapore, where he curated The Tailors and the Mannequins: Chen Cheng Mei and You Khin and co-curated Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia.
Other recent curatorial projects include The Unfaithful Octopus at NTU ADM Gallery (2023) and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2024). Roger was the 2022 recipient of the A.L. Becker Southeast Asian Literature in Translation Prize, awarded by the Association for Asian Studies. He is co-founding co-editor of Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by NUS Press.
Zoe Butt – Director/Founder, in-tangible institute, Chiang Mai
Zoe Butt, Founder and Director of ‘in-tangible institute’, will curate bipartite sessions on critical issues within the Southeast Asian ecosystem, including the urgency of support for the next generation of artistic practitioners, and the role and relevance of collectors, curators and dealers within this support network. Also a curator and writer, Zoe is known for nurturing critically-thinking and historically-conscious artistic communities, as well as fostering dialogue among cultures of the globalizing souths. Possessing an extensive exhibition, publishing and public-speaking history globally, she founded ‘in-tangible institute’ in 2022 seeking a robust ecology for locally-responsive curatorial talent in Southeast Asia. Zoe holds a PhD from Published Works, Center for Research and Education in Art and Media, University of Westminster, London and is currently Lead Advisor (Southeast Asia and Oceania) at KADIST Art Foundation.